In my ongoing attempts at sampling the various variations of banh mi in our fair city, I found myself standing in Banh Mi Ba Le on an exceedingly gorgeous weekday.
I quickly landed on the "cold cut" version of the venerable sandwich, and the little old lady behind the counter asked if I wanted it spicy. (Always a very good sign.) A few minutes and $3.75 (!) later, I walked out the door with a delicious-looking 'wich.
My first bite wasn't too promising, admittedly. The crusty bread seemed like it might be too much for the sandwich to withstand, but subsequent bites proved that this just wasn't the case. The banh mi was bursting with flavorful ingredients, from cilantro to pickled carrots to cucumber. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the meat itself, which was closer in taste and texture to pate but worked amazingly well in this context.
I appreciated, too, that it tasted a little bit different from any other banh mi I've ever sampled. The requisite flavors were there but it also contained a few little additions I really dug, including a creamy sauce that provided an undercurrent of deliciousness.